Dissemination Areas (DAs) are geographic areas that contain many Postal Codes, similar to a neighborhood. The PRIZM Unique License or ePCCF Unique files (depending on your license) will allow you to identify the DAs that contains Postal Codes. Once this is complete, the identified DAs can be linked to the DA-level database.
The linking process is outlined below.
- Standardize your list of Postal Codes. Ensure that your file contains no spaces and only contains capital letters.
- Using the PRIZM Unique License/ePCCF Unique file, link your Postal Codes to FSALDU fields. You will need to identify "DA" codes and "PRCDDA" fields in this step. Both the "DA" codes and the "PRCDDA" fields can be found in the PRIZM Unique License/ePCCF Unique file.
Note: All the Postal Codes (FSALDU) that nest in the same DA will each have the same value, as seen in the image below. - The PRIZM Unique License/ePCCF Unique file will allow you to identify the DAs in which Postal Codes are nested. You can then link your DA to a DA-level workspace.
Note: Ensure that you do not sum Postal Code data in such instances, as it will result in double-counting.
Additional Resource: Please see the attached schematic diagram for a more comprehensive view of how Postal Codes are linked to DA-level data.